New Delhi: Aiming at effective monitoring of
minority welfare schemes in the country, Government on Tuesday
pressed 223 national level monitors (NLMs) into service.
Describing the newly-appointed NLMs as "eyes and ears" of
the government, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid
asked them to act as a "gentle helping hand" to ensure that
money being given for minority schemes reach the intended
beneficiaries.
Addressing a two days Orientation-Cum-Training Session of
national level monitors, Khurshid made it clear that the NLMs
are "neither inspectors nor NGOs" and urged them to go beyond
"finding faults".
An MoU was signed in December last year between Ministry
of Minority Affairs (MoMA) and National Productivity Council
of India (NPC), an autonomous body under the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, for monitoring the implementation of
various schemes of MoMA and its organisations.
Khurshid asked the NLMs to give greater attention to the
implementation of the scheme of Multi-sectoral Development
Programme (MsDP). NPC has engaged 150 NLMs -- 90 for Minority
Concentration Districts and remaining 60 for other districts
in the country. It has also short-listed a total of 223 NLMs
for this purpose, of which 73 have been kept on standby.
Talking to the media after the function, the minister
said appointment of NLMs has been made with a purpose of
carrying out ground-level assessment of the schemes.
"The NLMs will visit all the districts and then report to
us about what steps we need to take for better implementation
of our schemes," he said.
PTI
